The detection of damage to silicone implants permanently introduced into the human body is of current interest. If such a silicone implant is damaged, silicone can escape and penetrate into the surrounding tissue of the body. To prevent possible impairments to health by the silicone, leaking implants must be removed as quickly as possible. One problem that exists here is that this type of damage to a silicone implant first has to be discovered.
Certain possibilities are known for detecting damage to silicone implants, e.g. magnetic resonance tomography, ultrasound or computed tomography. In this case magnetic resonance tomography is a well suited method of detection, but it cannot be used for every patient and is moreover very expensive. In addition the positioning of the patient compared to a subsequent surgical intervention must be changed here, which makes it more difficult to plan any operation. Ultrasound measurement generally does not permit a 3D representation of the object region, so that the rear of the implant is not visible.
Taking an individual computed tomography recording frequently produces uncertain results. Because silicone implants have a physical density which is close to soft tissue (since after all the implants are not supposed to be perceived as foreign bodies), the CT value of the silicone used is close to that of soft tissue and relatively unspecific. Major damage to the implant shell whereby silicone material is obviously escaping is generally visible, but minor damage and tears whereby small quantities of silicone escape from the implant cannot be detected unequivocally.